Cisco wants to combine Cognitive's technology with its own global, cloud-based threat intelligence system. Together, the technologies will work with a common policy engine built into networks, with distributed enforcement, according to a Cisco blog post.

Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in Cisco's third fiscal quarter, were not disclosed. Cognitive is privately held and based in Prague, Czech Republic, where it collaborates with researchers at Czech Technical University in a joint security research program. Cisco said it plans to continue and expand on that collaboration.

Cognitive's software uses artificial intelligence to detect threats, Cisco said. With it, Cisco said it can help enterprises deal with increasingly complex and targeted threats. In keeping with Cisco's traditional architectural approach to networks, Cognitive's capabilities will be built into what the company calls an "intelligent network."

Cisco has said security is a major overarching element it wants to ensure across all five areas in which it is focused. Those include routing, switching and services; collaboration; data center virtualization and cloud; video; and business process architectures.

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